3 Steps to Improve Your Marketing Efforts

Think about all the ads you see in one day: the logo on your coffee mug, the billboards on your way to work, the ads all over your Facebook page, the ads that play when you watch video streaming services…

These mentions are merely the large, noticeable ads that you encounter in a day! There are hundreds of other advertising methods the brain is subjected to leave a mark on your subconscious mind without you even realizing it.

With all of this advertising “clutter,” the question is how to differentiate and stand out. For a credit union, the concept goes even deeper: how do you stand out AND make your services seem enticing enough to convert strangers into members?

Define Your Target Market…Then Meet Them Where They’re At.

Before you can market successfully, you have to know WHO you are sending the message to. It’s true that the same type of marketing isn’t going to work on everyone. Your 18-25 age group is less likely to respond to a radio ad, the same way your 30-45 age group is less likely to respond to Twitter ads! Take a look at your member demographics to determine where the need to build membership is. Who should you be targeting with your marketing?

When you can define a target market, think about their interests. What do they do? How do they spend their free time? What platforms are they using for news, work, and entertainment? Take advantage of this information. Post your content on channels that you know your target market uses to ensure it gets visibility from the right person, at the right time.

Use Social Media for Engagement

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are all great ways to build a following and spread important news and updates to mass quantities…but your posts won’t mean as much as they’re receiving little to no engagement. Engagements and post clicks show how attractive, helpful, and intriguing your content is. Use social media ‘insight’ tools to see which posts receive the most clicks and shares. Try to model your future posts around your most successful ones.

Plan your posts carefully. Don’t post mindlessly without a plan or bombard your followers (one post a day is usually sufficient!) Fewer, more impactful posts that are well written and concise will have more of an effect on your audience than multiple, grammatically incorrect posts.

Lastly, use calls to action. ASK your friends and followers to engage with content, whether it’s by liking, commenting, sharing, or tagging. Tell them to click your helpful links or visit your website for more information. The more your followers engage with a post, the more visibility and reach it creates – getting your name out to more prospective members.

Create Helpful Content

Today’s audiences, especially millennials, are tuning out interruptive ads. They don’t want to be bombarded with displays of why your institution is the best among its competitors. In reality, they want to be helped, and they want to learn. Try to create educational content that helps your members (and potential members) solve problems. Consider starting a financial blog to cover real-world topics. Open up discussions on your social media channels for people to ask questions and submit topics. Create member surveys to see what areas your members want to learn more about, then create from there.

This helpful, informative marketing method can be credited to Hubspot, the creators of Inbound Marketing. To learn more about inbound methodologies and best practices, you can even become Inbound Certified free of charge, thanks to Hubspot!

By following these tactics, you can get on the road to a more progressive marketing strategy. It’s a process that will take time to carry out. Engagement doesn’t happen overnight, but slowly and surely, the more you’ll be ensured that when people do need services, you’ll be top of mind.